Police Rescue Migrant From Duffle Bag in Car After It Crashes, Catches Fire

After police officers and border patrol agents in Texas were involved in a car chase that ended with the suspect's car crashed and in flames last week, they quickly discovered there was a person inside hidden in a duffle bag.

Body camera footage released by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows several officers running to the car as fire breaks out around it and the driver flees the scene. Police broke the rear window, and pulled a duffle bag from the back of the car and opened it to reveal a woman inside.

"A duffle bag was removed from inside the vehicle containing a female immigrant concealed inside a duffle bag," police said in a second tweet. "[Texas Dept. of Safety] continues to combat human smugglers who choose profit over public safety. Great example of teamwork among our partners - USBP & Encinal PD"

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Wednesday that he plans to send buses of migrants to Washington, D.C. so President Joe Biden could "better deal with" the people he is allowing into the country.

In the March 23 incident, police said the vehicle passed a checkpoint without stopping, which led border patrol agents to call for help from local police departments, according to the Bradenton Herald. Other cars joined the chase, and a white SUV allegedly reached speeds up to 130 mph before hitting a barrier, causing the driver and others in the vehicle to flee.

The SUV caught fire shortly after the crash as officers searched it and the surrounding area for the driver and other suspects, WFAA-TV reported. Officers who searched the vehicle said they did not find anyone in the car, but when the driver was caught, he told them that someone was in the back of the vehicle.

Officers quickly returned to the car, and pulled the bag out once they realized it must be what the driver was referring to. They opened it to find a woman, who police have said is 22 years old, not a U.S. citizen. They said they were working to determine what country she came from, WFAA reported.

"She was trapped inside that zippered bag and it would have been just a matter of time before we would not be able to save her," Sergeant Genaro Hinojosa told WFAA.

Less than a minute after the woman was pulled from the car, police said it was engulfed in the flames as local fire departments responded.

Officers told WFAA that they were upset and confused by the other people fleeing the vehicle, and by the woman refusing to talk to them as she was rescued. They said they were not sure whether she was an illegal immigrant or victim of human trafficking as she and the driver were taken into custody by the border patrol.

"She was just in that duffle bag like a piece of clothing," Encinal Police Chief Pablo Balboa told WFAA. "The emotion that I had when she came out to tell you the truth was anger. Anger because these people do not care."

Update 4/7/22, 12:02 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and background.